Local Sports

By CLINT BUCKLEY
Staff Writer

KILGORE — Bryan Dixon was cruising along, and in a blink of an eye, the tides completed turned on Dixon and the East Texas Pump Jacks on Thursday night at Driller Park.

The Brazos Valley Bombers scored six runs in the fifth inning and later pushed across two runs in the eighth to earn an 8-6 win over East Texas.

Brazos Valley took the lead for good on an RBI triple by Todd Cunningham, who made it 8-6 when he scored on a passed ball. Cunningham finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

The Bombers exploded for six runs in the top of the fifth to take a 6-3 lead. Todd Cunningham and Nick Anders had RBI doubles and Tyler Huelsing had a two-run single to highlight the inning.

“We didn’t put guys away,” said Pump Jacks manager Stan Phelps. “We had guys 1-2 a lot and I thought we were going to get out of it. They did a good job of hitting with two strikes — you’ve got to tip your hat.”

Prior to the fifth, Dixon had allowed just one hit and had struck out four.

Travis Dirk (2-1) earned the win out of the bullpen, allowing just one run in 2 2-3 innings. Dustin Rasco earned his sixth save of the season with a perfect ninth inning.

Aaron Wilkerson (1-1) suffered the loss, allowing two runs in two innings of work.

Most of the offensive damage for the Pump Jacks occurred at the bottom of the order. The 6-7-8-9 hitters — J.D. Dunn, Josh Riley, Logan Moro and Jared Wondra — combined to go 6-for-14 with five RBIs.

“That’s always comforting,” Phelps said. “It’s a different guy every night on this team.”

Luke Burnett made his much-anticipated season debut on the mound for the Pump Jacks in the seventh inning. Burnett, a 14th-round draft pick by Seattle Mariners, struck out one and walked a batter in a scoreless frame of relief.

“We got him out there for the first time and he did well, going out there and trying to get the feel for the mound again,” said Phelps, who added Burnett’s shoulder caused his season to be cut short at Louisiana Tech this past year.

East Texas pulled to within a run at 6-5 in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run homer Josh Riley — his first of the season — and tied it in the seventh on Moro’s sacrifice fly RBI.

East Texas went up 3-0 in the fourth when Riley scored on a throwing error by Brazos Valley catcher Kip Masuda and a sacrifice fly RBI by Wondra.

The Pump Jacks got on the board in the second when Moro doubled home Riley, who walked with two outs.

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Brazos Valley 8, East Texas 6

At Driller Park, Kilgore

BV 000 060 020 – 8 7 2

ET 010 220 100 – 6 9 2

Jim McGonigle, Travis Dirk (5), Garrett Duff (8), Dustin Rasco (9) and Kip Masuda; Bryan Dixon, Matt Shelton (5), Luke Burnett (7), Aaron Wilkerson (8) and Logan Moro. W – Dirk (2-1). L – Wilkerson (1-1). S – Rasco (6). 2B – BV: Todd Cunningham, Nick Anders. ET: Moro, Keenan Duke. 3B – BV: Cunningham. HR – ET: Josh Riley (fifth inning, one on). SB – BV: Cunningham, Chad Colbert (2), Masuda, Anders. SAC – ET: Moro (2), Jared Wondra.

RECORDS – Brazos Valley 10-11; East Texas 9-12.

NEXT UP – Brazos Valley at East Texas, 7:05 p.m. today.